An Experimental Study on the Energy Consumption Reduction Effect of Thermal Storage Defrosting in Cold Storage within the Packaged Food Distribution Chain

In the food industry, maintaining appropriate temperatures through cold packaging and storage technologies is crucial for preserving food freshness and preventing quality degradation. Cold storage systems with fin-tube heat exchangers are commonly used as evaporators to cool air. But, under low-temperature and high-humidity conditions, condensation rapidly forms on the evaporator surface, leading to frost accumulation on the fins and tubes. This reduces heat exchanger performance and increases energy consumption. In this study, a thermal storage defrost (TSD) system was applied to cold storage, to analyze the reduction in energy consumption and the effectiveness of stable operation. The TSD system was fabricated using organic phase change material in a latent heat storage tank and installed in a cold storage unit. The freezing and defrosting operations were carried out. A comparative experiment was conducted under identical humidity and outdoor temperature conditions for cold storage units equipped with TSD and electric heater defrost (EHD) systems. The results showed that the TSD system significantly reduced defrost energy consumption compared to the EHD system, confirming its efficiency in reducing energy use while maintaining adequate cold storage conditions.